RIYADH  - Saudi Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz left the country on Saturday for medical tests abroad for the second time in less than three months, the official SPA news agency said. It said Prince Nayef, who is also interior minister, left the country "on a private vacation to conduct scheduled medical tests and spend some time for recreation," without naming his destination. In March, the royal palace said the crown prince went to Algeria on holiday after the results of medical tests he underwent in the US city of Cleveland were reported as "reassuring." It was unclear what the tests were for.
He returned to Saudi Arabia from Algeria on April 10.
Prince Nayef - who has been interior minister for nearly four decades and led the kingdom's post-September 11, 2001 crackdown on Al-Qaeda - was named crown prince in October last year at the age of 78, following the death of Prince Sultan, one of his brothers.